to add insult to injury
12
4.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
echar sal en la herida
- The immigration debate has added insult to injury by antagonizing Mexico without accomplishing anything.
And to add insult to injury, we are told that if we go to the UN that this will be a very serious problem.
- And to add insult to injury, we are told that if we go to the UN that this will be a very serious problem.
- And you've got some stuff like this thing just just to add insult to injury, you know.
Examples
-
It's heartbreaking to say nothing of the financial loss, which just adds insult to injury.
Blog text (27) -
To add insult to injury, all this ugliness and poverty simply fuels more poverty and ugliness.
Academic text (2010) -
The way in which it was carried out only added insult to injury.
Blog text (1) -
And now the administration appears to have added insult to injury.
Blog text (5) -
In this stage, the US role in the region added insult to injury and disappointed Pakistan.
Academic text (2018) -
If that were true, it's adding insult to injury.
-
It's easy enough to dislike the woman without her adding insult to injury.
-
And then, adding insult to injury, the hurricane destroyed my greenhouse.
Fiction book (2002) -
Not allowing food or drink to be brought in adds insult to injury during an already challenging event.
-
Criticizing the team's performance further adds insult to injury after their recent loss.
Synonyms
73
4.6
Make a problem or health condition worse
69
8.0
To make a problem or feeling worse
61
3.9
To make a situation or condition less good
37
4.0
To cause a situation to become more difficult or unpleasant
8
7.2
To make an argument or feeling worse by encouraging it
7
5.9
To make a bad situation worse by saying or doing something that makes people angrier
1
6.6
To make someone's bad feelings worse by reminding them of a disappointment
1
8.9
Make a problem or feeling worse
1
9.4
Say or do something on purpose to hurt someone who is already in trouble
1
7.3
Make a bad situation worse by what you say or do
To make a bad situation worse by saying or doing something
To make a relationship or situation harmful and unpleasant
Antonyms
How Hurtful
- Offensive
414
6.1
53
6.8
- Informal
12
4.5
701
3.3
∞
1.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'add' (to put something more) with 'insult' and 'injury', so a learner can infer it means making an already bad situation worse by adding another harm; the constituent meanings therefore give a clear cue. However, the expression relies on a metaphorical mapping (treating emotional/offensive harm like a physical injury) and the conventionalized phrasing may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Add insult to injury paints a simple picture: someone is already hurt (injury) and then another person says something mean (insult) that makes the pain worse. So it means 'to make a bad situation even worse'.